


Give Me Reality

by IronPanda



Category: The Hobbit (2012), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Book/Movie Fusion, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Brief mentions of other company members, Implied Character Death, Implied Relationships, Inception Fusion, M/M, Sexual Content, bagginshield
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-05
Updated: 2013-03-05
Packaged: 2017-12-04 08:33:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/708695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IronPanda/pseuds/IronPanda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Running from dream to dream is simple.<br/>Waking up is not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Give Me Reality

**Author's Note:**

> This one-shot is finally up, and running, and although I didn't get to delve in to all the characters involved (I have plans for them) I am glad to have this idea in actual text.
> 
> Edit:: Just a small edit of the summary  
> Me being me used the wrong word 'forager' instead of 'forger' and didn't notice, so I apologize to the world out there, and thank the commentator for telling me wee~ fixed..  
>  **Warning** there will be constant mentions of violence, character deaths(in the form of 'waking up') and there is sexual content.  
>  There are some terms at the end if needed.

**Give Me Reality**

 

Dís‘ gaze was frozen on him from across the restaurant, her dark hair was spilling over shoulder in a soft waterfall of curls. The decorative theme of the place was gold, red, and black. The epitome of decadence. He tried to ignore her and instead focused on the task at hand. The mark, Ms. Castlebury, and she was answering his every question. She was laughing along with white teeth and dangling pearls, sucked in to his simple charms. 

All was going well.

Until the mark stopped talking. 

"Who's that?" She asked. And he turned around again zeroing in on Dís who continued to stare. Their eyes met, that same shade of blue lining up. Only one was cold, and dead, without any of the warmth he was used to.

All of the people around them looked in their direction. The silence was prevalent.

"She's no one." He answered trying to gain Ms. Castlebury's attention again.

"She won't stop staring." Nor would the rest of the patrons. A horn resounded through the hotel. It was too obvious, time was too quick. Both women were aware.

Dís strode over, her long black gown matching her silky movements. She leaned over the mark's shoulder and whispered in her ear.

"You're dreaming." Her eyes locked with his.

Thorin clenched his knee, pulled out his gun, and shot the shade in the forehead, and then shot himself.

Another layer later he shot himself again.

And he woke up.

***

Thorin ripped out the wires of the PASIV, the sedative was wearing off for him, and in the next bed over the mark was still in a deep sleep. Balin stopped typing on his laptop, and looked up from the chair at the hotel room desk. 

"What happened?"

"Dis was there." Thorin rubbed his forehead, and rubbed his hand over the object in his pant’s pocket. It was rough in each groove and in a specific part there was a dip to a grainy texture.

He wasn't dreaming anymore. After the initial shock, he started to shrug on the black coat strewn on the floor.

"She was there again? I'm telling you lad, you can't go under on these solo jobs anymore."

"I don't have a choice, I don't have much of a team anymore Balin." Dis was his partner. She was, had been, a great point man. It was often just them and they were still efficient taking dream-share by storm within the first few years. He felt a hand clasp his shoulder. 

"We are always there for you lad, but maybe it's time you move on." Thorin pulled away from the shorter-older man. 

"The job's done, I've got to go." he would contact his client at the airport terminal.

Balin sighed.

"Yes you do, SMAUG will probably know you were here soon enough and your target is close to waking up- Take the PASIV Thorin, There should be enough somnacin left just in case."

"Balin I-"

"I have a feeling you're going to run too far for me to catch up to you this time.” Balin’s eyes crinkled in the corner with an honest smile. “I'll check in on the lads for you, now go."

And Thorin was out of the suite, with the suitcase, and a black hat hooding his eyes.

He took the first available flight out, destination: London, his old home.

Thorin Durin is rumored to be dream-share's most efficient extractor. He could build worlds, and wring out information in any way possible.

Thorin has also been without a team and a big lead for the last two years. And he's been without a home for longer. As he leaned in the stiff seats of economy class, he unfolded a fresh piece of paper snuck to him by Balin. It was a Digital photo of two young men, one with sleek golden hair and obvious dimples, the other with shaggy brown curls and a pointed smile. They were waiving at the camera, and it said 'We miss you uncle'- in corny white text as a caption.

Fili was going to college soon. And Kili was in his last year of high school. 

Both were far away in New York, and he was on a plane to London.

SMAUG won't let him return home. The organization has been after him since the Arkenstone Project. But that is one thing he was not going to give them.

It had cost Dis her life, trying to trade those secrets.

The light on the airplane came on for permission to use cellphones.

He had a text message the instant it was turned on.

**-I have a job from you**

**-I know you will be landing in London by the time you get this.**

**-Don't worry about a team.**

**The Grey.**

Thorin frowned. He hadn't heard from that man in years, since he and Dis had first gotten their big break from him. Though he saw a glimpse of the man at her funeral.

Once off the plane Thorin lifted his dark suitcase and weaved around the crowd, still in his dark hat and trench coat. He scanned the bustling mass of people for The Grey, and found him at front of the waiting area. He looked the exact same for an elderly man, with cropped waves of white hair, and a charcoal pea coat. 

"Grey-" He greeted with a nod.

"Ah Thorin, how have you been? Your hair is shorter since I last saw you." He said, even his crisp British accent was the same. Thorin cut his signature ponytail since he started heading on the run. He also grew out a short trim of a dark beard to frame his face.

"What is this about a job?" Thorin cut right to the chase.

"Come let’s talk more on the way, why don’t we?" Grey walked ahead, his oak walking stick must have been for decoration because the man still strode with elegance. 

Of course it was raining in London. He led Thorin into the back seat of a black car, and then slid in next to him.

"To my home Peregrin." The car jerked forwards and Grey looked at Thorin with a small smile, of course noticing the other man was gripping the side of the car door. "Oh don’t worry, he's new, and young, but he will get us there soon enough."

Thorin sat in silence, taking in the new smell of the car, and the thick droplets on the tinted windows. 

The Grey's mansion was large as he remembered. He had only been there once, but he still remembered the tall hedges, steel gate, and beige stones of a dwelling located far into the countryside. The only statues the man had were of horses.

The Grey led him through the empty marble halls to a mahogany themed piano room. In the center of the wall was a Renoir painting. Thorin examined the room with careful ease, noting several gleaming cellos, a large grand paino, and an organ.Grey tapped his walking stick against the floor board. A square piece popped up and the thin man motioned for Thorin to look.

He reached in a pulled out a slick new looking PASIV.

"A young man of incredible talent crafted this. I was lucky enough to get it before SMAUG could. It filters sedatives rather seamlessly." The Grey pulled up two chairs, and Thorin noticed that besides the driver the elderly man had no servants.

Was it just the older man in this mansion? This large space of emptiness?

No wonder it was so hard to find the Grey in one place at any single moment.

"Now. Shall we take look at what you can still do?" He gestured thin hands to the plush red seats. Thorin sat down-

*** 

"Impressive." The Grey said while sipping a small cup of coffee. They were sitting on the second floor of a cafè. Thorin tapped his fingers against the plastic table impatient. He knew there were at least three paradoxical staircases in here, and the buildings had a pattern of numbers to create a maze. Outside the wall sized window of the cafe was a market, the streets dreary and dark. "Although a little depressing."

Thorin leaned forward and crossed his arms on the table.

"What is the job?"

"Ah, about that. I think you remember the Arkenstone project-"

"I'm not going back to that." Thorin cut off, his hand in his coat pocket, a handgun felt cool against his palm.

"And I'm not advising you do.” The Grey's eyes were cool, and deadly. “SMAUG is being aquired." 

Thorin’s brow furrowed."What? Aquired?" He clarified.

"Yes, by a new company called Mordor. That is why SMAUG is after what you know about the Arkenstone, because without it they are just another piece of the massive monopoly, with no leverage. Their CEO is in a state of panic, and they need to know what power they’ve invented." The Grey's hand was wrapped around his walking stick, holding it upright on the ground.

"Now, such a monopoly could be dangerous for the Energy and Technology industry. Such a monopoly could give the company a lot of political sway in quite a few first world economies. But-" He took another sip of his drink. "There is one board member named Azog, he is the mastermind between the merger, and he currently holds the secrets to why the companies haven't finalized the decision yet. I need you to extract this information. With it, they can be collapsed."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Thorin said, he could care less for political regimes, he's seen plenty of politics, and it was all twisted.

"The wealthy can hide from the public law. But they can't hide from all law." There was a playful glint in the Grey's eyes. Thorin always suspected the man was working for a deep spy sector, he could never get information on the man no matter how far he dug.

"And what's in it for me?"

"Well besides a large sum of money, you get the ability to go wherever you desire, without having to be on the run anymore."

Thorin sealed his mouth shut and looked away, it had to have been around thirty minutes by now in the dream.

“What did you mean by having a team?"

"I've picked out several people, the best of the field, that I think you would benefit from working with." It was a requirement, not a suggestion.

"What parts?" Thorin's teeth ground together, his jaw clenched. Dís would tell him it was a bad habit. 

"Well you would be the Extractor, and I have picked out a Point Man, Chemist, Thief, and Architect."

"Tch. I could do half of those jobs." Thorin did not want to work with anyone else. "My only team is gone now."

Grey's eyebrows dropped a fraction. He took another sip of his drink, face devoid of a smile.

"Ah this is cinnamon spice. I would only get it at this specific cafe in Paris, for they made it with just the right amount of shakes of the cinnamon grinder. It was like pure magic-" Thorin raised an eyebrow at the old man.

"The cafe in Paris, it had a window just like this. Ms. Dís mentioned it a couple times, how the clarity and height of the glass would inspire her." Thorin's hand clenched tight around the handle of his gun.

Flashes of her smile appeared in his mind, her hands were forever a flurry as she spoke fluent French.

"It is quite gloomy out there. " Grey was looking out the window, he then turned back to look at Thorin. "You are drawing too much from your memories Thorin. Your mind is too clouded to focus on multiple jobs anymore." 

There was a shattering of glass from the kitchen. The window began to crack. 

"That is why you will work with this team I have chosen. You have been in your own mind by yourself for far too long. If this is going to work, you have to give up some of the burden.”

Before he could shoot himself the building collapsed around him. And the dream with it.

Thorin ripped out the PASIV wires and made his way from the Grey's music room stomping to the opposite side. He didn't look at the old man, instead he was in search of a bathroom to wash his face in. He found an open white door with a gold handle. Shoving himself in he leaned over the sink and began splashing his face with water. He hated when the dream collapsed without a kick. It was like limbo all over again. Looking down into the large porcelain bowl he let out a few rough breaths from his nostrils and cut the knob. The bathroom was still dark and he risked looking up in the mirror. 

There was two of him looking back at him.

How did he get here?

He grunted and turned around to face himself. Tall with tanned skin, a severe look in his face, and a neat cut through the middle of his left brow. The doppelganger stood proud and confident with an air of danger.

"You walk with a very heavy gait." His copy said. And Thorin reached into his pocket and felt the stone. It was completely smooth. He glared.

"What is this one of Grey's tricks?"

"Tricks, this is no trick." The doppleganger even spoke like him, almost. "It was very hard to pick up your mannerisms from the five minutes I saw you. You're a tough man Thorin Durinson. Especially your vocal range."

Thorin took out his handgun, and no questions asked, shot the doppleganger and then himself.

*** 

Thorin woke up gasping and furious.

"I'm sorry about that. I was just having a bit of practice." A soft voice said from his right. His head whipped over to the target, it was an unassuming man, maybe a few years younger than him, with short light blond hair, large eyes and a round face.

"What were you doing in my dream?" Thorin demanded.

"Gandalf hired me as the thief. He told me it would best if we to know each other in the dream."

Thorin stayed silent and continued to glare, his hand rubbed over his totem. 

This was real.

"He didn't warn me about your reaction though." The smaller man fidgeted with his hands, his mannerism were the exact opposite from the dream.

"I don't really like to die by gun point in the dream. I just can't get over the initial feeling of drowning in my own blood."

The man did look a little pale. Soft, Thorin didn't care though. He has to suck it up.

"How long were you watching me?" 

"Only the few minutes before you an Gandalf hooked up to the PASIV." Speaking of Grey he was nowhere to be found.

"You were accurate. Almost."Thorin said not looking at the man.

He heard and indignant huff.

"Excuse me I hardly think I missed a detail. Maybe a bit of your personality but-"

The stranger’s name was Bilbo Baggins. He was a professor, and former researcher of dream-share.

He claimed he wasn't a thief but a forger. That was the one thing neither Dis nor Thorin mastered.

Thorin and Baggins were in Grey's living room, the fireplace was on, and most of the cushions were empty. The Grey had wandered off again, according to Baggins, to collect another teammate. The blond man was terrible at small talk, he was awkward, and stuttered often, and not worth Thorin's time.

Thorin gave short answers until the professor gave up. Moments later the Extractor retired to his room.

He was gifted a guest space that spelled out the client's proclivity for the color of his namesake. The drapes, sheets, pillows, even the desk and tile of the attached bathroom were colored between cool and warm grays.

Thorin felt restless in the silence. And he had no desire to sleep, his mind wanted to be active. He took the PASIV Balin gave him out of his suitcase. His fingers smoother over the surface, and gripped the wires. He shouldn’t go under.

***

And he was in a hotel hallway. It was long with red carpeting and bronze doors. He started walking, his hands in the pockets of his black coat and he automatically headed to room 505.

The door was locked but Thorin took out a key and swiped it open.  
Inside Dís was sitting on the edge of the bed watching the television. She doesn't look at Thorin.

"I'm almost there Thorin-"Now she looks at him. "I will see Katu again." Her strong jaw was wavering.

"Katu is dead Dís." He says as gentle as he can.

"How do you know that?" She asked. "You saw the same truth I did, how to we determine reality?"

"Dís-"

"No Thorin! The Arkenstone, it's real! It's real. There is another layer, all we have to do is wake up!" She stands up and tossing something at him. It hits his cheek, the gold band wedding ring. Her totem, cast away in madness.

He wakes up when the dream collapses. He murmurs he's sorry, it'll never reach her. She's dead. Thorin blinks his eyes to clarity, and realizes it's gone dark in the room.

Deep breath.

There's a knock at his door.

"Um, Thorin, Gandalf says wants you downstairs, he says we are having dinner, and this is and I quote 'The last pleasantry before the job begins.'" Bilbo's voice sounds so far away from the door. Thorin shakes his head to clear his ears.

"I'll be down in a minute." He packs up the PASIV into the suitcase, and opens his door to the bright light of the hallway.

This team Gandalf chose could not possibly work for such a sensitive job.

There were still too many of them for Thorin's taste. 

They were back in the music room.  
Their Point Man, is an American, Thorin has heard of before. Nori, is all slender angles, and mismatched clothes, his long reddish hair is tied into a bun on his head. He has sharp eyebrows, and eyes, and he was eyeing the Renoir painting with interest. Thorin knew Dís was cursing the man’s very existence for stealing leads. He seemed more like a thief than an informant.

Thorin doesn't like him, he seemed to know too much.

Their Architect is another familiar name of Dream Share: Bofur, Thorin had never worked with the man, but he has heard enough to make out that the he was decent. Everything about him screamed ‘casual’. He was another tall thin figure, with bright brown eyes, who smiled a lot easier than Thorin was used to for someone in their field. Thorin felt at a disadvantage when Nori and Bofur saw each other.

"Why am I not surprised you’re here." Bofur started off with a bright smile.

"Because I’m the best Point Man there is, and when was I ever not a first option?" 

There is a laugh. “No you’re an asshole who owes me a few beers Nori.”

Grey brought in their final member, a slight man with the same eye color as Nori, only his eyes didn't hold the same cunning, and he was maybe a couple inches shorter than Bilbo. He was the least standard as they came, with his green sweater and black bowtie.

"And this is-"

"Ori! What the fuck are you doing here?" Nori outburst, the other man went from his timid stance to something more defensive.

"I'm here for a job obviously."

"But in dreamshare, if Dori found out, shit, shit-"

"Oh don’t you mother me too. I’m going to do this because I want to.” Ori’s chin was raised high, and he turned away from Nori like an adamant child. He was too close to Thorin’s nephews in age.

Grey looked between the two with amusement, and he set a hand on both their shoulders, (Thorin noted the man didn't have his walking stick. He knew he didn't need it!) 

"Ori here has been a most promising apprentice to the Chemist Oin for the last couple years, and he's the one that formulated the powerful sedative you will be using for this job."

Nori backed off. "Well can't say I'm not proud we both turned out criminals eh?" His shrug was stiff.

"How many layers are we going down?" Thorin interrupted, gaining the attention of all the men in the room.

"Two can be done, but three will allow a higher chance of success."

"Three levels, you want me to make mazes for three levels?" The lilt of Bofur’s Irish accent rose, his hands demonstrated disbelief. 

"I've heard you have done it before." Gandalf said.

"Yes, but it can be unstable depending on the dreamer-"

"Not with my somnacin." Ori said. And it made Thorin feel sick, the deeper they went, the less they recognized.

“We just need the right dreamers for each stage."

"Azog's mind will be militarized." Nori pointed out. "His subconscious is going to be swarming with guards. The best we have is to go deeper until we find where he locked away the information. Because even if he doesn’t know much about dream-share, there’s no way he would be unprepared."

"Can we risk that going in to limbo when we lack any team dynamic, and some of us the proper skills?" Thorin's eyes swept specifically on Bilbo and Ori. The tension was palpable in the air, none of them trusted each other and it was evident. Thus was the life of dream-share. One has more enemies than friends.

Grey clacked his walking stick against the tile, it echoed through the halls of the mansion.

"I chose this team not only because I believed you had the skill to handle the task, but because each of you have more in common with each other than you think. Each of you has a strong desire to be involved in this job specifically." The severe stormy gaze of the elderly man softened. "Now, I'm sure dinner is prepared, and we should enjoy this meal, because tomorrow, you start."

With that Grey cut through the group and walked towards the dining room, the quiet professor at his heels. A delicious scent wafted from the area and Thorin noted he hadn't eaten since he left the London airport. He cast a wary glance towards the others left in the room, and was the last to leave.

**Day One**

Thorin had to admit they had a decent group mechanic. The first test run they had of a single layer dream was just to see how long Ori's sedative lasted. And how crisp it was.

It was vomit inducing how clear the entire setting was. Nori was the designated subject, and Bofur the architect. Everything the brunette made was sharp lines, and thin tunnels. The cityscape was like Tokyo, or Beijing. 

Nori's subconscious provided area appropriate projections, but the Point Man littered some modeled after Azog and the other board members across the dream. It was tricky but most of the time Thorin could pinpoint the vault, or the target they needed.

And then there was Bilbo. Not once in a practice run did Bilbo appear in the dream as himself first. He was always someone different. First he had a try at each of the teammates. Exactly spot on, except for Thorin who insisted Bilbo had missed something. Partially to watch the blond huff and sputter in insult.

Then the Forger would emulate the targets. He started with what he had researched on Bolg (Azog’s son who was also an entrepreneur of an unknown company), Azog himself, or other board members that were known. It was unnerving.

**Day Three**

They were preparing to go down two layers in the dream world, Bofur voiced what no one else asked while they all sat in the music room, positioned around the PASIV.

"Bilbo, you know you don't have to be in character each practice run right?"

Bilbo paused in mid bite of a scone, the small man was almost always; eating, drinking tea, and reading.

"Oh well, I know that." Blue eyes found the scone more interesting than Bofur's face. 

"Then why do you do it?" Nori deadpanned. His eyes were glued to his computer screen that was constantly running lettering and code.

The small man bit the inside of his cheek in contemplation. "Ever since I was younger, I hardly dreamed as myself. Now, it's near impossible for me to dream as me anymore."

**Day Four**

Bofur asked why everyone was in dream share. He seemed to be the only one who could actually strike up a conversation with all of them individually.

Generally Thorin remained silent and short outside the dream, Ori stuck around Bilbo more than Nori, and Nori was not interested in small talk, normally he said something perceptive, or kept to flirting with Bofur.

"I studied a lot of philosophy," Bilbo was the first to share, this time while enjoying a fresh cup of Earl Grey. Thorin noted he had the hands of a professor, they didn't look calloused nor rough and held the tiny tea cup with careful fingers. "And my mother was a friend of Gandalf's, I mentioned during a guest lecture at another University that I dreamed as myself a total of three times in life. I would write it down when it happened because it was just so strange. Then, Gandalf contacted me with my first job."

"I was an art thief." Nori supplied with a shrug, Ori shifted in his seat. "I was involved in several dangerous crowds as an info man, and I never stuck to one side. Grey tracked me down and yeah, now I'm still on the lovelier side of the tracks." 

Ori bit his lip. "I was assisting with creating somnacin in a lab. Dr. Oin mentioned that the stronger the chemical, the stronger the dream." The mousy young man quickly returned to his book.

The rest were looking at Thorin expectantly. He removed his hand from his pocket, from the rough texture of the pebble. 

"The military got me in, I never left." He said after a minute, most teams didn't share this type of information with each other. It was too dangerous. The others seemed satisfied, Bilbo though, his eyes were on Thorin's pocket.

Thorin narrowed his eyes, and the other looked away.

**Day Five**

The days are getting closer, so they test three dream layers once. Bilbo is the dreamer. It's a square paradox cityscape with a large green garden in the center. It's all bright and sunny. They are wandering through the level as an entire group, Bilbo in the guise of a woman with shoulder length ocher brown hair and the same shade of blue eyes. It was one of his most natural creations.

Nori and Bofur were trying to outdo each other in who can dream the 'bigger gun', and Ori was wandering in pure amazement of the world that was created. He has gone down the least compared to the rest of them, and he was the newest to the world of dream share. Thorin knew an addiction growing when he saw it.

"Why don't we try and find the target now?" Bilbo suggested.

So they did. Thorin followed as many leads as he could until they came upon a tall glass building.

"It's here isn't it." Nori pointed and Thorin tried to ignore the feeling clawing at his stomach. The interior was blood red, with gold accents.

This couldn't be right. What would be the coincidence. It wasn't the same hotel, but it was so familiar.

Ori noticed first what Thorin had feared. And by noticed, Ori yelped when he exited the elevator first. And the small youth jumped back his sleeve pooling red with blood.

"Ori!" Nori pushed his brother out of the way and drew his gun, he was fired at first and had to duck in the narrow hallway. There were several body guards with knives aiming for them, to fight.

“What the hell, Bilbo why is your mind militarized?" Bofur accused also ducking away and firing two rounds into a man's chest.

"It isn't!" The professor shot back, rolling out of the way of the gun fire.

Dís was walking up to them from down the hall a knife in one hand, and gun raised, wearing the floor length slender black gown as the last time. A smirk was on her red lips and she was staring at Thorin.

"You have to go deeper to find reality." She said, and her gun clicked again. "Don't you all know that?” Her voice shouldn’t sound so empty, so coy. She encountered Bilbo first, and knocked the gun out of his hand with a swift kick. The professor fell back, still in the guise of the pretty older woman.

Dís looked down at the small man. "You could see your mother again." She raised her gun to the Bilbo's head.

"Bilbo no!" Bofur was a flurry of movements, shooting another two targets point blank. They couldn't die this level, they had to wait until the kick or else it's the empty space of subconscious dubbed limbo.

Thorin made quick work of the man he was struggling against, and then he shot Dís in the forehead, his breathing labored. The final man collapsed after being stabbed by Ori.

Bilbo was gasping for breath, and Thorin noticed he had changed guise to his original form, his real world form. Thorin reached in his pocket, still dreaming.

"Who the hell was that?" Bofur said.

"That was Dís Durin," Nori said his eyes on Thorin. "A renowned Point Man, a dead one." Thorin flinched away from the gazes of his teammates.

"The real question is why is she here, she could ruin everything if she found out any intel." Nori was now wrapping Ori's arm.

"That's none of your business." Thorin bit back.

“Well then maybe you should stay out of the maze construction plans so you don’t screw it up!” The red head’s eyes were unwavering and cold. 

"Why was she talking about the Arkenstone project?" Bilbo asked, his hand clutching his chest, trying to steady the shock. "It's just a rumor, and- and she was going to kill me for it." 

The thundering sound of opera music shook the ceiling. And the building collapsed for the kick. Never had it been so welcome.

***

Thorin was the first up from the dream, and he made the quick decision to retire to his room. He had to get rid of this now, he had to see her again. He had to erase her.  
Or lock her away. He hastily closes the door behind him, lays on the floor, attaches Balin's PASIV in the dark, and-

***

He's at Dís' house on Staten Island. It's a beautiful large two story with quaint antiques, a large garden, and old- fashioned rooms. It feels like a real home. 

Fili and Kili are out today, Thorin and Dís' close friend Dwalin took them to Coney Island. They were 13 and 11 at the time. Dís is supposed to be in the kitchen making the dinner for that night.

Thorin finds her at the kitchen bar, her hair fallen deflated around her bare shoulders, and eyes wet. He walks over to her and puts his hands on her shoulders. She doesn't look at him.

"He's gone Thorin," He has been for a year and she still has not recovered. "What's the point brother? We spend our time trying to discern dreams from reality, reality from dreams, we spend time dying in as many ways possible, and yet I cannot deal with death."

"You will heal eventually." He says, knowing what will come next, and still trying to change it anyways.

"What if I don't want to heal, who says he's not where the real world is?"

"You know Dís, your totem tells you, and so does your mind. Fili and Kili are real, and they are here." She continues to look at the picture her fingers brushing the image of a happy couple, a wedding picture.

"The totem is something we have created in our mind-"

"Dís there's more to reality than that-"

"When we are born do we remember?" Her voice is a shallow echo.

"Don't-" She wretches away from him and stands up.

"I'm going to finish making dinner-"

He walks away, up the steps, up another flight, and one more until the scenery has changed, and he's down a dark alley. Dís is moving quickly ahead of him, they are going to catch a taxi. They just finished the Arkenstone project. He starts to run just as she does.

They get in the back of a taxi, and she is catching her breath, eyes wild. She leans forward, a hand rubbing her temple, and Thorin tells the driver to take them to the airport. He notes her wedding band is not on her finger, and grabs her hand.

"We will get through this, we just have to deliver to the checkpoint-" He whispers.

"Thorin, we are still dreaming."

"No, we aren't."

"Yes Thorin, life, is just another dimension of reality. We have mastered life." He tries to quiet her down in case the driver is listening, but she continues talking.

"What is we went a layer deeper? What's deeper than limbo?"

"Nothing Dís, nothing, " She looks at him with her blue eyes, manic, dry, and with a deep seeded fire.

"Is there?" This is where the car stops and they go to the airport terminal and she-

"Are you keeping her locked away?" The driver says, this is not how the memory goes, Thorin’s face twists in anger.

"What are you doing here Bilbo?" He says with grit teeth.

"Trying to find you. Are you mad? Going under by yourself is dangerous, and then keeping such such-" The outrage on the driver's sullen and wrinkled face was apparent and strange.

"He's trying to escape his dreams." Dís interrupted, her eyes sharp, no longer that of the memory and instead taking on the facade of the shade's.

"Thorin, reality is up there, and if you don't tell the team-" Thorin was half listening because he remembered Dís always kept a small handgun on her garter. Once again he would have to kill his sister.

He pulled out his pistol faster, the smell of copper and iron filled the air, eliciting a surprised yelp from Bilbo. He got out of the car and then went to the front and pulled the driver out.

"I can't tell the team, it's under control." He said while dragging the man by his arm towards the busy street of the airport. He led them to a staircase.

"Clearly it's not if on the third layer she appears and starts shooting at us. You have to tell the team Thorin, hiding something like this on the job-" Thorin stopped with a tight grip on the other man's forearm and faced the forger.

"I can't tell anyone." He starts pulling them up the steps again, not sure what is compelling him, but the staircase at the side of the terminal went up, and up, and they came upon the nighttime. They were on a raised surface with yellow lights and a strange wave to the long structure.

“Where are we? Wait no I've read about this, this is the Henderson Waves bridge." Bilbo says, and Thorin looks at him, the forger has changed again, this time to the small woman from the dream with the team.

Down the way, always walking two steps ahead, was Dís in a bright red sweater, and svelte dark jeans.

"This is where I can't stop it." Thorin whispers.

"Stop what?”

Thorin halts their walking, and watches her continue down the bridge, a man is on the other side, tall and thin, wearing a black suit. Thorin knows the face, the sharp eyes he's only seen a few times.

The company head who won't stop chasing him.

"She will try and make a deal with him, she tried to escape me, to not get me involved, to not let me know of her evident betrayal. She never wanted to betray me, but her mind was chaotic, just in a mad dance with reality. She wanted to see her husband again. And nothing I could say would quench her thirst for more." He hears the crack of a gunshot, and watches her fall, crumpled to the ground.

"I told her they would never let her live with such information."

Bilbo looks horrified, the blue eyes of his guise were watery. "What did she want?"

"She wanted to know if the Arkenstone was truth, if reality was just another dream. " He clenches his fist enough to numb it.

"But it is not." The bridge begins to shatter like glass. 

"You feel guilty don't you? Guilty that you can't believe her, and guilty that she died!" Bilbo yells at him over the crashing noise of the disintegrating bridge, his guise's face pinched in what seems to be frustration and sympathy. Powder blue eyes widen. "That's why you keep checking your totem, you think one day you might wake-" They fall.

Thorin bolts up in the dark room, his tongue dry and heavy, and back aching from laying on the ground. Bilbo is also sitting up his eyes glazed over, and face expressive with whatever dark plagued him. Thorin tries to stand to head to the bathroom, Bilbo shoots up as well.

"Wait Thorin! Wait!" A hand grabs his arm, and Thorin nearly hisses.

"What." He spits.

"We have to talk about this-"

"No we don't-"

"Look I understand-"

"No! No you don't understand!" Thorin reaches into his pocket, his hand shaking, the stone is rough to touch.

Bilbo pulls his hand away flinching.

"The reason why my fall back muse is that woman, the short one, with the yellow cardigan and brown curls-" Bilbo starts, his voice quiet, and Thorin finds himself straining to hear.

"Is because she was my mother. I dream as her, to try and keep her alive, to try and keep myself from forgetting anything about her. The scar on her knee, a freckle on her chin." Bilbo sucks in a shaky breath but he continues his voice stronger.

"She died ten years ago. Before I actually started dream-share I was a researcher for SMAUG on some unknown kickstarter to a project that tested the limits of dream, they wanted to take it too far. I walked, and they killed her, my only relative left. They killed my mother, and to think the last time I talked to her, she was so proud of me for my success." Bilbo's eyes were rimmed red, and looked ready to spill over when he lifted his chin to look Thorin directly in the eye.

"Don't tell me I don't understand. I can recognize sadness, anger, guilt, and exhaustion. I think what Gandalf meant by us all having a reason to want to end those companies for good, is because we do understand each other, without needing to say it. And I think, that you just need someone to tell you that it's not your fault. Not completely, and you can stop running, you're allowed to get tired of it all." Thorin was frozen- lacking a response, Bilbo had a wry smile on his face; small but warm enough.

**Day Six**

The team doesn't mention the incident the next day. They've come too far to be able to back away now. They will follow Azog to a business conference, he would be staying in his private suite that he often escaped to, Nori had gotten them a room next door by some miraculous and shady act.

That flight Thorin walked in a conversation he wasn't meant to hear. He was on the other side of the foyer wall, and two people were already in the room.

"- Bet on which one of us would leave the hotel room first this time." Nori's voice had a tease to it, Thorin didn't miss the innuendo. Bofur sighed, he sounded tired.

"I think I'm done after this job Nori."

"What why?" Nori sounded disappointed? Frustrated.

"I want to return to my family."

"I didn't know you had one." Now the red head sounded sour.

"It's my brother's, he has enough of a brood for the rest of us, but I'm tired of running Nori. If we finish this job, I will tie up my loose ends, the money is enough now." Bofur paused but then he said something else, it an attempt to sound convincing. "I'm sure you've done enough jobs, you could try to stop too. Come with me."

Nori's laugh was dry and humorless. "To where? I don't have much of a family to go to, we're screwed up- I was gone for half of Ori’s life, don’t tell me he doesn’t blame me for it- and maybe I like the life I have." Thorin knew a lie when he heard one.

"You're tired too-" Bofur tried again.

"Dream share is a thrill, an exploration of the mind that never lets you stop running." Nori said, and the conversation died letting the crackle of the fire dominate the room.

 

**The Job**

The flight to Amsterdam was short, and tense. Thorin kept alternating between his totem, and watching nothing in particular, on mute, on the seat television. Bilbo was next to him reading a book, but the blond snuck obvious contemplative glances every other minute. It was infuriating.

 

They had decided last night the dreamers would be: Ori(who had determined he should go down with them to the first layer, he refused to be on the sidelines.), Bofur, and then Bilbo, the subject would always be Azog. They would collapse each layer with a kick, so that they could finish it within the time of the break between the conference days. They had ten hours.

Nori set up a camera in the hallway, and they all took turns watching the monitor for the moment Azog would return to his hotel room. Nori employed his old art thief tricks; and he paid off(or blackmailed) a good portion of the hotel staff, (Grey planted a few double agents as body guards) and then the former thief snuck in untraceable sleeping pills in every open liquor bottle. It appeared their target was fond of drinking.

Azog was a large man, unnaturally so, and his dark suit did nothing to shrink his built body. He had strange scars on his pale face for a business leader, and quite a few guns in his arsenal.

Thorin almost worried they'd be expected. But as predicted, the board member took back a long gulp of amber scotch, and fell asleep on his bed.

_Layer 1: Hotel_

They had stuck with making the first layer as realistic as possible, and making it the meeting that would happen the following day. Bilbo was emulating chair member Saruman, and the rest had positioned themselves as personal assistants, or other minor board members. The goal was to get Azog back to the hotel room, and take him down a layer with them.

There were bodyguards crawling all over the place, they hadn't been spotted yet, but the threat of getting shot at for an hour, possibly dying, and then dropping into limbo was great. Ori started planting the demolition charges, ready to blow the building in thirty minutes.

_Layer 2: Restaurant_

Bilbo was now acting as Bolg, Azog's equally as large and scarred son, and they were having a heated spat over dinner at a high end Italian place. They were discussing Bolg's succession of the company, and Thorin was acting as one of the paranoid Azog’s bodyguards. 

"What is taking so long for the merger, father? I can't continue to sit and lie in wait for you to decide when I get the job, I can go elsewhere. I don’t have to hold this failing company anymore.” 

Azog looked furious. It seemed it was a discussion they had before. "You know why we have to wait, Smaug won't hand over anything until he has the advantage."

"Maybe you're just losing your power over them." Bolg threatened, his voice calm with an air of superiority.

“Be patient, you will take care of what I have given you.” The pale man sneered, one of his many sharp gold teeth glinted.

Azog wasn't divulging much and only getting angrier as the conversation went on. They were running low on time.

"Get down!" Thorin yelled pulling Azog down as Nori and Bofur shot through the windows, in disguise as robbers. The projection guards became alerted. 

Bolg and Azog were taken on a car ride, that come time for the kick, when the music would play, Bofur would lead the projections on a chase to the train tracks, and take a passenger freight head on.

Thorin didn’t envy him, but the man seemed to find the thrill in it.

_Layer 3: Bank_

There were hundreds of vaults in the back of the bank, all big boxes of steel, and all with the same numbers on their location.

"Shit, well, Thorin, time for you to get to work." Nori said from behind a face mask. There was a bag over Azog’s head, and Nori was holding a gun to the man’s temple. "Be careful, he's going to have a few rigged vaults, and only one of them has what we want."

Bilbo, in the form of his mother once again, had partnered with Thorin, they started making their way through the bank. The halls were lit with blue lights and it was like a five story high prison of gleaming silver vaults, only reachable by a cart.

Upon closer inspection each vault had some strange runes etched in.

"I recognize these runes." Bilbo whispered to Thorin, he was looking close enough, one stumble and he would hit the steel door face first.

"What are they?"

"They're codes, from the Arkenstone project, a sort of secret language that was embedded in to the program so that it couldn't be cracked so easily." Thorin's heart plummeted and he growled in frustration.

"Can you read them?"

Bilbo eyed him with amusement. "Decently enough."

Whether or not the professor could read them wasn't the problem. It was finding the pattern. It took a total of an hour of tiptoeing down the dark halls for Bilbo to get anywhere.

"You lumber quite loudly you know," Bilbo commented when he halted without warning. Thorin was a breadth short from hitting the back of the Forger.

"Did you find anything?"

"Yes it's a strange string of words though, three words. Erebor, Moria, and-"

"Gundabad." Thorin interrupted, Bilbo looked at him stunned.

"Yes, how did you know?"

_They were scaling a mountain came to mind.  
Dís crawling through tight tunnels of un-mined gold and silver._

"Those were the three mountains from the dream in the Arkenstone project. The three points of puzzles that we had to go through." They searched for days in the dream, until they found a stone. And then dropped into limbo.

_Dís had held the stone in her hand, it shone bright like a star, smooth, and ever changing colors, like it was breathing. Her eyes never left it._

"Well they seem to be another code here, three points, a triad really." Realization dawned on Bilbo's face. "Follow me." The small body was running ahead, and Thorin quickly chased after him.

They kept running, and it was like a maze, over and over again, Bofur really designed a labyrinth. They stopped at a vault a few moments later, their breath labored.

"Here." Bilbo ran his hand over the vault rune, it was one they had looked at before. "Gundabad." He placed a device on the vault that Nori had given them. It made a few click noises and then the vault opened.

Bilbo pulled the door open further.

Thorin put a hand to his forehead, trying to ignore the image of Dís. What did she do? Why can’t he remember?

_The same picture kept flickering to his mind in a haze. She was holding a gun._

Inside the vault was a large stone, changing colors like a heart beat. It was atop an envelope. Bilbo was staring at the stone, mouth agape, hand shaking. He reached ou-  
.  
"Don't touch it." Thorin struggled out the command. Bilbo shook his head and grabbed the envelope instead. He handed it to Thorin, who quickly began to read.

"There's a third company. Azog, is planning on making the merger, so that he can break them into three conglomerates. He plans on creating a monopoly by making it seem like they're all competitors." Thorin noticed Bilbo wasn't answering, and that his gaze was back on the stone.

"Don't touch it Bilbo," he warns again.

Gun fire crackled in Thorin’s earpiece. “Shit, guys crazy bitch is here and she just shot Azog,” More gun fire, and Thorin couldn’t be insulted long enough about Nori calling his sister a bitch. “I gotta take her down, hurry the hell up or our target will be in limbo, and I’m not chasing after the bastard.”

"Why not? What if we need it?"

Thorin yanks Bilbo away from the vault, and the smaller professor grabs for a gun aiming it at his teammate.

_Dís is aiming a gun at him, the Arkenstone in her grip._

_“Thorin the stone has something it wants to show us.”_

_She shoots him in the stomach, then herself._

_They find themselves on the shores of limbo._

_Soon projections are created, a world is created where Katu is alive, Fili and Kili are growing in to successful young men and- Thorin spirals into madness, it doesn't feel right, he feels so alone with them._

_He realizes it isn't real. But it is, and it isn't. It’s what Dís wanted, it was her reality. But not his.  
_

"It's calling to me, Thorin. I can see my mother again." Bilbo says his voice entranced, he’s in his real body, and tears were streaking down his round cheeks.

"Bilbo, it isn't real." A plead.

"How do you know that?”

"It'll take you to limbo Bilbo, it'll be nothing but chaos."

"But how do you know it isn't real?" Bilbo shouts at him, hands shaking. He starts to lower the gun in hesitance.

"I don't know, dreams can feel real when you're in them." He confesses.

"We can stop running Thorin."

"But that's life isn't it-" Thorin hears the building shake, but he focuses his gaze on Bilbo. Nori speaks in Thorin’s ear 'The kick is coming', he was probably listening. "You have to accept, you'll always be running from something."

Bilbo looks at the Arkenstone one more time, and Thorin takes the opportunity to snatch the gun away, and grab the smaller man's wrist.

"We have to wake up."

***

They were successful. But they were also on the run, Azog had figured out what had happened, and they had to take separate flights out. But the damage had been done and the job completed.

Nori and Bofur had gone off yelling a few cities at each other across luggage pick up in no particular order, Thorin deduced it was where they would meet up. 

Ori had said he was going to go to his other brother’s until he could sniff out another job. Thorin could see it in the young man's eyes, he wasn't satisfied yet.

Thorin was making his way to Dublin, and Bilbo had vanished.

He tried not to think on it too much, after they had woken up, Bilbo didn't speak to anyone, he hardly looked at Thorin. He was different, and it made Thorin's heart sink. He admitted to himself while in mid flight to Ireland, that he was worried about the small professor. The only who had gotten through to him, seemed to have lost his mind.

**After**

Two nights later after some heavy drinking at a local pub, Thorin passed out in his hotel, Balin’s PASIV attached to his skin. He let his subconscious take free reign under his drunken state.

***

He seemed to be on the rainy streets of London, and the world was on a dizzying axis due to the alcohol in his system. He was looking for Dís and couldn't find her anywhere.

Instead he saw a short man in a blue pea coat pass by him. The buttons on the coat were bronze. He followed the other man for a few streets. Until he was led to a small flat.

The blond left the door open and he stepped in.

Smaller, cold hands pulled off his soaked coat, and he let curious fingers trail over the buttons of his soaked white dress shirt. He looked n those familiar blue eyes. They stared at him, taunting. The hand trailed further to his jawline, tracing over it, and then over the shell of his ear. He shuddered as it ghosted behind his ears.

Bilbo stood on his toes and whispered in his ear. "You're right, I did miss a detail," The finger ran over a scar that was sewn shut behind his earlobe. Thorin was pulled down into a soft kiss. He reached into his pocket and felt the stone.

It was smooth.

***  
Thorin woke up wanting to scream, and relieve his erection at the same time. How was he still thinking on a man who left without a word? Plenty of teams moved on without a word after the job was finished.

Two weeks later and his dreams hadn't changed. Sometimes he'd see Dís' shade lingering about, but he always followed Bilbo to a flat, whether in New York, Sicily, an unknown location. It was the same.

He broke down and made a phone call.

"Ah, to what do I owe this pleasure Mr. Durin?" Grey said after one ring.

"The professor," Thorin started. "I need to find him."

Grey didn't answer for a minute, and Thorin panicked that he might be in the wrong for searching. That he would get hung up on  
.  
"He's in Manchester, Apartment 505." Grey ended with a click.

Thorin took the first flight out. 

He came across a small apartment that had a pot of peonies in the windowsill. The dark haired man hesitated before knocking at the door. There was no noise, but he assumed Bilbo was checking his identity because a lock finally clicked open.

"Thorin," The professor stood before him, wheat curls a mess, and wearing a ratted striped blue robe. A blue pea coat hung by the door. His eyes had dark rims, and a glazed wary look. 

"Is there something wrong?"

"No I- uh," He felt stupid, he didn't plan out his intentions. "I wanted to see you."

Bilbo's eyes widened in surprise, but then they narrowed, his small body took on a defensive stiffness. "If you're here to check on me, I am perfectly fine."

"No, No, Well," Thorin's hands twitched at his sides but he didn't put them in his pockets. He set one on the doorframe to aid in holding it open.

"I am here to check on you, but also-"

"Oh well come in for some tea then, my kettle is going off." Bilbo interrupted before striding away to what Thorin assumed was the kitchen. Thorin stepped in and hung his coat at Bilbo's order 'Hang that soaked trench by the door.' 

He thought about checking his totem.

"Do you want Ginger, Earl Grey, Chamomile, Oolong, or Jasmine?" Bilbo called from the small kitchen. Inside the apartment was warm, with the main theme of browns and green, and a large amount of filled book cases and knickknacks took up the space. It was homey.

"It doesn't matter." Thorin answered, he looked at a picture frame on the coffee table covered in papers. There was Bilbo's mother smiling with the same grin Bilbo inherited.

Bilbo returned with two cups of tea and the tea bags still soaking inside.

"So uh- how have you been?" Bilbo asked his hands wringing together, trying to stay occupied.

"I've been dreaming-" Thorin figured to cut to the chase. Bilbo glared at him.

"By yourself again, I thought I told you that was serious-"

"About you." Thorin watched with fascination at how quick the professor's pale skin flushed.

"Oh-oh well, um, that's still dangerous you know-"

"You won't leave me alone." Thorin didn't mean to sound accusatory and sharp, but he did. And Bilbo jumped at his tone.

"Well I hardly see how that is my problem." The professor huffed and started to dump lumps of sugar in his tea.

"Do you still think about it?" Thorin asked.

"Think about what?" Bilbo's eyes swept around the room, trying to find an exit to his own home.

"The Arkenstone." An awkward silence fell between them.

"Sometimes, I think of what it showed to me, how it called to me. How it tried to twist my idea of reality." Bilbo bit his lower lip, stormy cerulean eyes followed the motion. "And sometimes I just miss her. She was all I had, my father died when I was very young and it had always been us."

"Against the world-" Thorin agreed, thinking of Dís and his family. Their parents died when they were still young, as did their brother. It still hurt to think about how alone they were when dream share had started.

They both sat in silence, sipping their tea together, in a separate world from each other.

"This was a nice visit, it's gotten late and I don't want to hold you up, um thank you for stopping by," Bilbo stood up his hands twitching and face expressive as day with hurt, and hope.

"I want to stay." Thorin said. "If you'll have me." He added.

"Oh," The flush was back on Bilbo's cheeks. "I do have a spare guest bedroom and-" Thorin pulled the smaller man forward by his wrist and ducked down for a kiss. The effect was immediate, Bilbo melted into his body, sighing, allowing Thorin entrance into his warm mouth.

They separated, both panting and basking in each other's pull.

"I have to leave tomorrow for home." Thorin said, almost as if reminding himself. Bilbo's face fell. "I want you to come with me."

Bilbo took a step back, powder blue eyes looking all around the room. Thorin's heart was twisting in anticipation.

"I suppose I could." Bilbo drew out, and by the first few words, Thorin let a true relaxed expression cross his face. And he was on Bilbo again, kissing the man's lips, nose, trailing his jawline.

"Alright alright," Bilbo laughed pulling away. "I do have to make preparations though." He was looking at Thorin with humor in his eyes. Thorin didn't get a chance to stop the growl from escaping him, the raw want and need. 

"-Or it could wait." the blond amended. Thorin grunted in agreement.

"You can't possibly be reduced to animalistic noises-ah" Thorin interrupted Bilbo with a nip at the exposed neck. He had always been a rougher lover, not that it seemed Bilbo minded. Thorin’s hands gripped at slender hips, pulling the tie to Bilbo’s robe open.

They barely made it to the master bedroom, what with Thorin hardly giving Bilbo a chance to move, and Bilbo found it hard to separate himself from the broader man.

He yanked off Bilbo’s robe, and pulled up the lax sleep shirt in between kisses. Bilbo popped open Thorin’s button up with hasty force. Once they were bare enough for Thorin’s liking, down to their underwear, the taller man lifted up his lover and laid him on the bed.

Thorin found himself braced over the soft man, reddish marks already appearing on the flushed skin. Bilbo's hands trailed to his scarred chest tracing the dark hairs, healed stab wounds, and bullet holes. Round eyes half lidded and darkened with lust.

Just like in his dream, Bilbo brought a delicate touch along his beard, to his ear shell, and behind his earlobe.

"I did miss a detail." Even with his voice breathy with want, Bilbo found a way to sound disappointed.

Thorin smirked and pushed himself flush against the warmth of the smaller body. He started again on the curve of his neck, nipping down to the collar bone where he sucked with bruising intent, and eliciting a sharp intake of breath

“You’re delicious.” He whispered for he could stop himself.

His kisses trailed down to a pink nipple, that sharp breath turned into a hot pleasure stirring moan, sending blood straight to his cock. There was so much want burning inside of him, he wanted to taste and feel every part of Bilbo, to know everything about him, his mind and his body. He dipped his tongue on the pebbled opposite nipple.

 

"T-Thorin, don't tease," Bilbo gripped at his hair with impatience, and the warm body bucked up against his torso, urging him to go faster.

He grinned and trailed his tongue up the soft skin, and back to the bobbing Adam’s apple. Bilbo laced his fingers into his black strands and pulled him up further for a demanding kiss. Their tongues battled for dominance, and Thorin bucked forward drawing out another delicious moan. 

The blond arched his back and started to rut their erections together, biting his lover’s reddened bottom lip, and started his own attack on Thorin's throat.  
Thorin growled, incoherent, but dark blue pools focused on the reddened panting face beneath him. Bilbo’s pupils were blown, swimming with and unspoken command Thorin was all too glad to comply with. Their heat met through thin forbidding cloth in a tangled frenzy. The professor’s blunt nails dug into the muscles of his back as he thrust a steady rhythm.

They stayed wrapped in each other's energy, two hot flints sparking a fire- until Bilbo cried in release, those digging nails gripping tighter, leaving crescent marks. Thorin followed soon after, grinding himself closer to the sheets, closer to Bilbo, and a satisfied growl rumbled deep from his throat.

“Next time, we try that, naked.” Bilbo whispered docile, and sleep laden in his voice. Thorin brushed his thumb over the smooth cheek back and cracked a smile.

It’s been a while since he’s heard a next time.

Thorin laid there in the dark of Bilbo's room, still running his large hand through the soft curls. Despite their mutual stickiness neither wanted to break the mold.  
Bilbo buried his face into the crook of the extractor's neck, his breath steadying.

Thorin just listened to his lover breathe, basking in the after glow and the fresh familiar scene of clean linen and sex, until darkness took him.  
.  
This is what it felt like to stop running.

**Author's Note:**

> I do have the fullest intentions to create sequels(they're way off though until I finish at least part one of There's Silence and Then There's Distance) involving:
> 
> Ori, Fili, and Kili and their adventures in dream-share.  
> A background story of Bofur and Nori,  
> and possibly Bilbo's P.O.V of the entire events- bonus scenes included.
> 
>  
> 
> **Otherwise, thanks for reading, and feedback is always appreciated. If you want to reach me to discuss which sequels might appear first, or to see sneak previews contact me on my tumblr: pandamani.tumblr.com**
> 
>  
> 
> Here's some terms mentioned that might need a definition:
> 
> Totem- An object used to test if they are in reality.  
> Point Man- The one who finds out the information on the target.  
> Thief/Forger- A person who emulates another from real life or creates a new identity.  
> Chemist- The teammember who mixes the somnacin.  
> Architect- The one who dreams up the details of the world.  
> Extractor- The person who retrieves the goal information from the target.


End file.
